Mick just happened to lay his hands on a set of lockpicks and a new jacket that Leonard had been lusting after for the last month and a half. So they were laid out on the cracked old laminate table in his kitchen while he waited for Lenny to come by, whenever that might be.
It has nothing to do wth the fact that it's Valentine's Day. It doesn't.
Even if he put a few chocolates to go with them on the table.
Leonard is so...entirely out of touch with the world at large that if not for being constantly assaulted with red hearts and engagement ring ads, he wouldn't have even known the day. As it is, he can't quite ignore it, but he doesn't think much about it.
Sure, he and Mick are... well, Leonard doesn't know the right word for what they're doing because it's not really dating, but they're doing that and they're partners but they weren't the type for things like Valentine's Day.
Doesn't mean the fact that today was V-Day hadn't managed to slip his mind for awhile, though.
"Where'd you get this?" He asks, eyes lit up like Christmas lights as he checks over the lockpick set, already eager to break it in.
Mick might even have a little bag set aside for Lise, a few candies and a new gold bracelet, but he can give that to Lenny on his way out.
Because his gift for Lenny doesn't mean anything. It doesn't. A grin as he watches him take in the few gifts he laid out on the table. Mick didn't see his partner light up like that often and damn if it wasn't worth it.
"You been eyeing them for a couple weeks now, figured I'd go ahead and get them for you."
Leonard always made holidays a big deal for Lisa, but that's about it. Personally, he couldn't care less for most of them.
Once he's looked over the lockpick set, he puts it aside and snatches the leather jacket off the table to try it on. Fucker. He could have punched him for getting this, Leonard knows exactly how much that pricetag read and some stores you just don't get five finger discounts with. "I can't decide if I should be impressed or concerned that you got the perfect size," he admits, sending Mick a smirk.
He leans one hip against the table and cocks his head slightly, squinting curiously at Mick for a moment. He idly grabs one of the chocolates and unwraps it. He eats like a bird most of the time, but he has a sweet-tooth from hell.
It's small. Such a tiny, insignificant thing, that could so easily be explained by the fact that all the candy in every store had been transformed for the holiday and it's all he could find. But. The chocolate he's about to pop in his mouth is definitely heart-shaped. And it gives him the slightest pause as he considers it all together, in one piece.
Gifts, completely tailored to things he'd desperately been wanting lately; chocolate...
Oh.
The soft crinkle of the wrapper in his own hand is what actually brings him fully back into the moment. "Di- did you--" There's something of a nervous scoff because he can't even bring himself to ask the question and the army of butterflies suddenly waging a war in his stomach are hard to think around. "Was this for...for Valentine's Day?"
Oh, God, if he was wrong, he was going to die standing here in Mick's kitchen.
The leather jacket was perfect. Just the right damn size and Mick could pat himself on the back for that one alone. He'd pulled a hell of a lot of extra shifts to cover the money for that jacket and it was worth it as Lenny slid it on.
He'd just slipped the chocolates into the pocket because his partner had one hell of a sweet tooth.
Then he's asking a hesitant, unsure question and his own pulse kicks into high gear as he turns around to look at him. A duck of his head, a slight roll of a shoulder. Was it too much? Did he go too far?
"It, I just wanted to get you something nice, Lenny." So yes then. A Valentine's day gift.
Mick looks like some mix of shy and uncertain, suddenly, himself and it does nothing for the fluttering in Leonard's stomach because it's just cute. And that isn't even really a word he uses in any direction but Lisa's, but it's true.
"So...yes?" He wants--needs--the confirmation. But despite himself, a genuine smile twitches across his face. "It's perfect."
But he is suddenly acutely aware of the fact that he hadn't even thought to get Mick anything because he didn't think that they were that kind of-- well, couple is weird...partnership? Whatever. He's standing on awkward ground now, even though he knows without even an ounce of doubt, Mick didn't do this to get something in return. Because despite what most people may assume, or see in him, Mick's not that selfish. Not with the people he cares about, at any rate.
He doesn't bring it up, though, because he can already play out in his head how that conversation would go. He'll just file it away and randomly, some day when they have both forgotten the awkward stiffness of this second, he'll get something for Mick. Just because, and secretly in a way to make up for this, even if Mick would never know.
Mick will argue forever and a day that he is nothing even near the realm of cute, thank you very much. But it's enough to see his partner happy with the gifts that he's been lusting after, even if the bastard is forcing him to confirm things that he'd much rather not.
"Yeah Lenny," he confirms when it's more than clear that the idea of a Valentine's gift isn't an unwelcome thing. "Yeah it is. Even got something for you to take home to Lise." Because they were his family. All he had now.
He doesn't expect anything in return, doesn't even want anything in return. It's all about seeing the way Leonard's face lit up at the sight of the jacket and the new lockpicks. Making someone else happy. God he's so fucked on him it's ridiculous.
"I made dinner too." Including brownies, which were Lenny's favorites. Not that he was going overboard or anything. No, don't be ridiculous.
If it was literally anyone else, it would be completely unwanted and the idea would be unnerving but it's Mick, and that alone makes a world of difference. He's the only person that has ever captured Leonard's attention this way, and has managed to evoke an entire plethora of feelings in him which, frankly, Leonard spent his early teens assuming there was something wrong with him for not having. Apparently, he just has a type and that type is Mick Rory.
As it is, that confirmation just seems to make the fluttering critters in his stomach throw a goddamn rave. He feels the smile break across his face at breakneck speed, "She'll love it." He doesn't let the stray thought that he'd have to hide it from Lewis when he got home break the smile or the good feeling of the moment.
And then he said he made dinner and it's got Leonard's attention because he hasn't really eaten today. "Yeah? What'd you make?" Not that it really matters, he eats almost everything Mick cooks.
And damnit if it doesn't make Mick relax a little more when he sees that familiar smile, a smile free and uncomplicated. One that is so very much Lenny without all his walls and his concerns and Mick would damn near sell his soul to see it more often.
"Thought I'd make up a mess of stuff. You know, so you can take some home." Let it never be said that Leonard was the only one who thought ahead in their partnership. Chicken and dumplings simmered away on the stove and a fresh meatloaf was just coming out of the oven, complete with potatoes. His Ma's old recipes. The one part of his past he could share with the family he'd all but adopted.
That smile is easily one of Mick's favorite things, second only to watching him sleep, all the stress and worry lines smoothed out as he breathes evenly. Relaxed and at peace. A smirk tossed over his shoulder. "Go get a plate then, I ain't serving you."
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Be mine? Wait. You already are..
Date: 2018-02-14 11:09 pm (UTC)It doesn't.
Mick just happened to lay his hands on a set of lockpicks and a new jacket that Leonard had been lusting after for the last month and a half. So they were laid out on the cracked old laminate table in his kitchen while he waited for Lenny to come by, whenever that might be.
It has nothing to do wth the fact that it's Valentine's Day.
It doesn't.
Even if he put a few chocolates to go with them on the table.
no subject
Date: 2018-02-15 02:37 am (UTC)Sure, he and Mick are... well, Leonard doesn't know the right word for what they're doing because it's not really dating, but they're doing that and they're partners but they weren't the type for things like Valentine's Day.
Doesn't mean the fact that today was V-Day hadn't managed to slip his mind for awhile, though.
"Where'd you get this?" He asks, eyes lit up like Christmas lights as he checks over the lockpick set, already eager to break it in.
no subject
Date: 2018-02-15 02:49 am (UTC)Because his gift for Lenny doesn't mean anything. It doesn't.
A grin as he watches him take in the few gifts he laid out on the table. Mick didn't see his partner light up like that often and damn if it wasn't worth it.
"You been eyeing them for a couple weeks now, figured I'd go ahead and get them for you."
no subject
Date: 2018-02-15 03:19 am (UTC)Once he's looked over the lockpick set, he puts it aside and snatches the leather jacket off the table to try it on. Fucker. He could have punched him for getting this, Leonard knows exactly how much that pricetag read and some stores you just don't get five finger discounts with. "I can't decide if I should be impressed or concerned that you got the perfect size," he admits, sending Mick a smirk.
He leans one hip against the table and cocks his head slightly, squinting curiously at Mick for a moment. He idly grabs one of the chocolates and unwraps it. He eats like a bird most of the time, but he has a sweet-tooth from hell.
It's small.
Such a tiny, insignificant thing, that could so easily be explained by the fact that all the candy in every store had been transformed for the holiday and it's all he could find.
But.
The chocolate he's about to pop in his mouth is definitely heart-shaped. And it gives him the slightest pause as he considers it all together, in one piece.
Gifts, completely tailored to things he'd desperately been wanting lately; chocolate...
Oh.
The soft crinkle of the wrapper in his own hand is what actually brings him fully back into the moment. "Di- did you--" There's something of a nervous scoff because he can't even bring himself to ask the question and the army of butterflies suddenly waging a war in his stomach are hard to think around. "Was this for...for Valentine's Day?"
Oh, God, if he was wrong, he was going to die standing here in Mick's kitchen.
no subject
Date: 2018-02-15 01:42 pm (UTC)He'd just slipped the chocolates into the pocket because his partner had one hell of a sweet tooth.
Then he's asking a hesitant, unsure question and his own pulse kicks into high gear as he turns around to look at him. A duck of his head, a slight roll of a shoulder. Was it too much? Did he go too far?
"It, I just wanted to get you something nice, Lenny."
So yes then. A Valentine's day gift.
no subject
Date: 2018-02-15 03:40 pm (UTC)"So...yes?" He wants--needs--the confirmation. But despite himself, a genuine smile twitches across his face. "It's perfect."
But he is suddenly acutely aware of the fact that he hadn't even thought to get Mick anything because he didn't think that they were that kind of-- well, couple is weird...partnership? Whatever. He's standing on awkward ground now, even though he knows without even an ounce of doubt, Mick didn't do this to get something in return. Because despite what most people may assume, or see in him, Mick's not that selfish. Not with the people he cares about, at any rate.
He doesn't bring it up, though, because he can already play out in his head how that conversation would go. He'll just file it away and randomly, some day when they have both forgotten the awkward stiffness of this second, he'll get something for Mick. Just because, and secretly in a way to make up for this, even if Mick would never know.
no subject
Date: 2018-02-17 12:18 am (UTC)"Yeah Lenny," he confirms when it's more than clear that the idea of a Valentine's gift isn't an unwelcome thing. "Yeah it is. Even got something for you to take home to Lise." Because they were his family. All he had now.
He doesn't expect anything in return, doesn't even want anything in return. It's all about seeing the way Leonard's face lit up at the sight of the jacket and the new lockpicks. Making someone else happy.
God he's so fucked on him it's ridiculous.
"I made dinner too."
Including brownies, which were Lenny's favorites. Not that he was going overboard or anything. No, don't be ridiculous.
no subject
Date: 2018-02-17 02:44 am (UTC)As it is, that confirmation just seems to make the fluttering critters in his stomach throw a goddamn rave. He feels the smile break across his face at breakneck speed, "She'll love it." He doesn't let the stray thought that he'd have to hide it from Lewis when he got home break the smile or the good feeling of the moment.
And then he said he made dinner and it's got Leonard's attention because he hasn't really eaten today. "Yeah? What'd you make?" Not that it really matters, he eats almost everything Mick cooks.
no subject
Date: 2018-02-18 02:33 am (UTC)"Thought I'd make up a mess of stuff. You know, so you can take some home."
Let it never be said that Leonard was the only one who thought ahead in their partnership. Chicken and dumplings simmered away on the stove and a fresh meatloaf was just coming out of the oven, complete with potatoes. His Ma's old recipes. The one part of his past he could share with the family he'd all but adopted.
no subject
Date: 2018-02-19 01:09 am (UTC)"Sounds good to me." And like a couple days worth of decent meals for him and Lise.
no subject
Date: 2018-02-21 05:05 pm (UTC)